NOMINAL STRUCTURE AND INTERPRETATION: ON THE SYNTAX OF THE KOREAN DETERMINER PHRASE by SOO JUNG CHANG (Under the Direction of Keith Langston) ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on definite/indefinite markings and the occurrence of nominal phrases that are projected by a determiner head, such as articles and demonstratives, in Korean. Traditionally, Korean nominals are categorized as NPs and demonstratives as adjectives (Fukui, 1995). This idea has been prevalent in analysis of Korean nominals since the DP Hypothesis (Abney, 1987). In addition, Lyons (1999) claims that DPs cannot be projected in Korean syntax due to the lack of the grammatical D category, and inclusiveness cannot be realized because Korean has “no formal marking of definiteness.” However, I argue that DPs are universal and are not parameterized cross-linguistically. Adopting Chomsky’s (1995, 2001) Minimalist Program, Chierchia’s (1998) Nominal Mapping Hypothesis, Longobardi’s (1994) N-to-D raising, and Baptista’s (2007) T-chain approach, I present syntactic differences between NPs and DPs by suggesting that nominals with [+ref] are DPs while NPs are either non-arguments or non-referential nominals. Licensing the syntactic aspects, [+ref] triggers N to move to D covertly at LF in Korean. To support existing D elements in Korean, I show various cross-linguistic data of nominals in languages such as English, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Romanian, and Creoles. Following Guéron (2006) and Baptista (2007), I suggest that DP with multi-layers such as ClP, NumP, and QP, has inherent T-features, such as [+generic] and [+episodic] tense features. Those T-features should be eliminated in nominals as they are not categorical features of the nominals. Also, I argue against the ideas that interpretation of bare nouns is determined by predicate types or case particles. This study demonstrates that arguments with definiteness/specificity are only merged with DP, instead of ClP. Demonstratives, as a Functional Category, have various base-generated positions across languages; in the case of Korean, demonstratives co-occur with possessives since demonstratives do not compete for the same position with possessives. This dissertation validates the DP-Hypothesis which can explain parallels between the domains of sentences and nominals even in languages without articles by allowing demonstratives and null D to be heads. DPs are internal arguments, external arguments, and non- arguments with [+ref]. Korean common nouns, as derived mass nouns , are headed by D. INDEX WORDS: Argument, Bare Noun, Classifier Language, DP Hypothesis, Demonstratives, Episodic, Feature-Checking, Generic, NP, Mass Noun, Minimalist Program, Predicate, Tense-Features ∗∗∗To clarify any confusion regarding the composition of my committee, it should be stated that Dr. Baptista directed this dissertation, and as such, is my sole major professor. However, as she resigned from the University of Georgia in summer 07 to take a new position at the University of Michigan, the UGA graduate school would not allow her to remain my major professor on paper without becoming adjunct faculty. As she declined that option, Dr. Keith Langston graciously accepted to fulfill the role of my major professor on paper only. NOMINAL STRUCTURE AND INTERPRETAION: ON THE SYNTAX OF THE KOREAN DETERMINER PHRASE by SOO JUNG CHANG B.A., Ajou University, Korea, 1997 M.A., Ajou University, Korea, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 Soo Jung Chang All Rights Reserved NOMINAL STRUCTURE AND INTERPRETATION: ON THE SYNTAX OF THE KOREAN DETERMINER PHRASE by SOO JUNG CHANG Major Professor: Keith Langston Committee: Hyangsoon Yi Sarah Blackwell Marlyse Baptista Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2009 iv DEDICATION To my grandmother, Soon Rye Chang, and my grandfather, Ha Wook Chi , who are now in heaven v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My life in Georgia was motivated by my father, who was a visiting scholar at the University of Georgia a long time ago. At that time, I was a visiting student at UGA, and one of the memorable moments was when I met my dissertation advisor, Dr. Marlyse Baptista; she kindly allowed me to audit her syntax class, and experiencing a linguistics class in the US for the first time gave me a sense of pride. Since I came back to Georgia again as a graduate student, Dr. Baptista has been my major professor, and I am much blessed to have her guidance, encouragement, and inspiration as my dissertation advisor, supporter, and mentor. I still remember the emotional moment when I burst into tears as soon as I saw her in front of her new office at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has always been watching over me wherever she has been and has never given up on me or my study. I do not know how I thank her enough. Without her long-term support, patience, and guidance, this dissertation would not have been completed. Many thanks go to my committee members, Dr. Keith Langston and Dr. Hyangsoon Yi. They always provide me with expertise and invaluable comments in numerous ways. Dr. Langston’s advice on diverse knowledge of not only Slavic and Germanic languages but also East Asian languages inspired me to explore diverse language data in my dissertation in order to prove and increase its universality. Dr. Yi’s intuition as a native speaker of Korean enabled her to evaluate a lot of Korean data, which added to the validity of this study. I am also very thankful to Dr. Yi for offering me an invaluable experience as an instructor at the Korean Program at UGA for four years. vi I want to thank Dr. Seock-Ho Kim, Dr. Mi-Ran Kim, Naanhee, and Yoonhee. They always give me family-like care, love, and advice not only for my academic life but also for my life in Georgia. Without their support, I would not have overcome many obstacles in completing my doctoral study at UGA. I will never forget Naanhee’s and Yoonhee’s sweet smiles! Also, I would like to thank Seungjae, Sunbok, and Jiyoung. Their constant love and friendship and our mutual interactions made possible my intellectual progress. Especially, Seungjae’s intelligence and support compensated for my weaknesses and my tendency to be a last-minute person. Throughout the years at UGA, I have met many wonderful people who gladly helped me in many ways; although it is not possible to mention all their names here, I am so grateful for their hospitality, encouragement, and contributions. Among those, I wish to extend my thanks to the late Dr. William Provost, Mr. William Wallinow, Cindy, Nathan, Yuki, Kwan-Chung, Garrison, and Karen. Also, my special thanks go to the Suhalims (Jeongyi, Rico, and Maree) and the Hunzikers (Kyunglim, Marcus, Tobi, and Hana) for their caring and encouragement. Last but not least, I am so grateful to my family who have supported me with unconditional love and priceless care for me. My grandmother and my grandfather in heaven, who raised me from my birth with their devotion, took care of me, and loved me so much, would be very pleased to see their granddaughter’s accomplishment. I believe their love always guides me and gives me strength to overcome hardships in this long journey. My father, an emeritus professor, has inspired me to live a decent life as a scholar – like father like daughter! My mom, a retired Korean teacher, gave me linguistic sensibilities which motivated me to study linguistics. Although I will not be able to pay them back for their endless support, care, devotion, and love for me throughout my life, I accomplished this study to thank them for their faith in me. Many vii thanks go to my grandfather and my aunt who convey heartful caring all the way from Youngju, Korea; at the same time, I am grateful for two of my beautiful family members who passed away recently: my late uncle and my late cousin. Although I cannot see them anymore, I hope they would be glad to see my completion. Also, I would like to thank to my brother-in-law, Soon-Gon Kim; his constant support for Gouk Haeng and his sincere caring for my parents and Soo Im were crucial for my achievement. I am so grateful to my wonderful sisters, Gouk Haeng and Soo Im, for giving their great love to me who has been a selfish sister to them. It is a blessing that mutual interactions with my sisters have enriched my life as a linguist, harmonizing with Gouk Haeng’s literary sensibility as a writer and Soo Im’s brilliance as a scientist. Their cheering messages from Korea have inspired and encouraged me and were indispensable for my study. Most of all, the three of us have been best friends throughout our lives, and our love is the best present given me by my parents. I am so thankful to all my family again, for making me feel very blessed to be a member. I would like to thank to my friends in Korea; also to many people not mentioned above, but recognized in my thoughts. Thank you with all my heart! viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v GLOSSARY ....................................................................................................................................x LIST OF LANGUAGES............................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1